Shenanigans
by PretiBurdi
Summary: A to-be collection of one-shots about general OC's of mine created for Yu Yu Hakusho. Most are to be with Jin. Uh, just posting these for reasons, such as practicing cute-and-fluffy fics ...
1. Training

"Well, I'm here," Amai muttered, looking nervously at the stairs (the billion, trillion stairs) leading up to Genkai's temple. She heaved a huge sigh before starting the uphill trek one begrudging step at a time.

A little bit later she was already panting, so she stopped and sat down to look at the billion steps she had already climbed. She counted 20 and sighed deeply. 20 steps and she was already feeling like going home. She rummaged into her backpack and pulled out her ipod. Maybe angry music would make her faster.

The rest of the steps were almost easier with the senseless pounding in her ears. Running up them at a semi-steady pace, she managed to get about halfway before nearly tripping and deciding to take another break. She removed her ipod from her pocket and started to turn down the volume when something flashed in front of her. She looked up immediately, worried that stupid old lady had sent something to test her halfway up the million freaking steps of stairs to her stupid house. She glimpsed around, pulling out her earbuds as someone came up behind her and pushed her shoulders. Not hard enough for her to tumble forward but enough that she freaked out and spun around. Her foot promptly slipped and she ended up on her stomach, sliding down a few of the steps until her aforementioned traitorous foot remembered its purpose and stopped her. Amai glared at the laughing red head, standing on the steps she had just vacated. He was smart, since he was too far away for Amai to immediately kill him.

Amai looked to her left and saw a rock, about half the size of her fist. Jin was still laughing at her, so she reached her left hand toward the rock, feeling her spirit energy wrap around it. Lifting her hand the slightest bit caused the rock to float, and as she sat up, she wrenched her arm back as if about to pitch a soft ball, and let it fly at Jin's head. He probably could have avoided it, especially if he had known it was coming. Amai let her energy drop from the rock once it was sent flying and watched it hit its mark. With a smug smile she sat all the way up, dusting off her shirt and rubbing the blood of her chin. Great, another scab. She'd look awful at the school dance if she kept it up.

"Well what'd you go an' do that fer?" Jin was rubbing a red spot on his forehead, frowning over at her.

Amai rolled her eyes and stood up completely, staring disdainfully down at her skinned knees. Her soccer shorts were longer than her school's usual gym shorts, but not enough to cover her knees. She looked at her arms, though they weren't quite so damaged.

"You scared me, it's not funny. Didn't you see how far I fell?" Amai growled, stomping painfully up the steps.

"Aww, I said I was sorry." Jin gave her his usual lopsided grin, his pain already forgotten and the red mark already gone. Damn demon healing powers.

Amai shot him a disgruntled look, "No you didn't."

"Oh. Sorry, Amai."

And damn that bashful smile, Amai thought vehemently as she picked up her dropped ipod and checked it. Not broken, thank God, or she'd have to throw a boulder at Jin. She adjusted her backpack that had survived the fall while still attached to her back. She sighed and wiped her chin again, checking her hand; still bleeding. Gross. She sent another glance at Jin, seething. A realization hit her.

"Noooo," Amai bemoaned, her shoulders slumping and a horrified look on her face. "This means I'm training with _you_ again today…"

"An' what's wrong with that?" Jin put his hands on his hips, acting offended although the quirk of his lips showed the humor he saw in all of this. "I'm a mighty fine training partner."

"No, you're a _pain_," Amai sighed and started up the steps, not waiting for him. "You laugh at me when I fall over and trip, and I'm pretty sure the last time I got a nose bleed we had to take a break because you nearly choked you were laughing so hard. It's always a joke, with you."

Jin, who had started floating next to her, dropped his feet back to earth at Amai's glance. "I'm jus' tryin' to make it fun. I promise I'll try not to be laughin' so hard, this time."

"See, you say that, but I'm not certain I believe it. In fact, I'm 90% sure I don't believe you."

Her way was blocked as Jin hopped up a few steps to stand in front of her, a determined look on his face. "I said I won' and I won'."

Amai couldn't find words. She stared at him, first in surprise, then to see if he truly was as serious as he appeared. Then in surprise again, because he certainly seemed serious.

"Hmm." Was all she could say, hiding her blush with another frown, "We'll see."

She sidled by him and not a moment later he was back, cheerily walking in step with her, chattering about the training they'd be doing. She was nearly smiling by the time they reached the top of the stairs. Then she remembered the training she'd be doing.

"You'd think climbing those stairs would be training enough," she grumbled, looking down at her aching feet.

"Well it's not." An equally agitated voice replied.

Amai often wondered what made Genkai so angry all the time. She didn't seem to lead a particularly difficult life, except that she had to deal with dipshits like Yusuke all the time. Obviously Amai knew very little of Genkai's past (nor of her participation in the Dark Tournament, etc), so Amai had first looked at the withered woman with an air of speculation and skepticism. Now that she was in training, however, Amai felt only begrudging respect and the phantom feeling of exhaustion when thinking of her.

Knowing better at this point, Amai did not argue. Instead, she frowned and put her hands on her hips, "What's the plan today, Shihan?"

A sharp look from Genkai (did she have any other looks?) made Amai regret asking. As the old woman turned and started walking, Amai sighed and followed after her. After a moment, Jin floated over to Amai. The brunette could feel irritation growing in her chest as Jin lazily floated along.

"Woulda been helpful if you floated me up all those stairs instead of waitin' to scare me," Amai grumbled, hands in her shorts' pockets. "Then maybe I'd have more energy for training."

"Naw, but you hate when I float you anywhere." Jin flapped his hand at her, knowing she was just arguing for the sake of it. "You just complain about how high we're flyin' and get mad a' me. Don't worry, someday you'll be able ta' run up an' down those stairs wi'out breakin' a sweat!" he finished by putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"But I wanna be good at it now," she muttered back at him. "And I don't complain that much."

"I'm not strolling along these grounds for fun, you know." Genkai nagged from up ahead.

Amai sighed deeply and, raising her eyebrows at Jin, she jogged to catch up to Genkai. The old woman had led them to a large open space behind the house. In the distance, albeit not too far away, Amai spied a zen garden she had never noticed before.

"Sit." Genkai commanded.

Without even looking around for a chair, Amai quickly dropped to the ground in a criss-cross position. Amai knew, at this point, what was expected of her; immediate meditation. Shaking off her backpack, Amai settled into the comfortable position, her hands relaxing on her knees. She focused on her core, finding her spirit energy pooled in her chest and following the threads of it as it flowed through her veins. She twitched when she felt, more than heard, Jin sink down beside her. They weren't touching, but she could sense his demon energy. Light blue, rather like the sky on a sunny day, energy surrounded him as she sought out his energy with hers. Smiling to herself because this sort of thing had been much more difficult a month ago, she dived into her own energy and focused.

A while later, Genkai decided they'd meditated enough. Amai's eyes fluttered open, almost begrudgingly. If nothing else, meditating had taught her to become one with herself, and to better appreciate who she was. She loved spending that time with her thoughts, with no one to interrupt them.

Genkai grunted. "You didn't fall asleep this time."

High praise, from Genkai. Amai grinned and jumped to her feet, energetic now that she'd rested. A quick glimpse at the sun showed that more than an hour had passed, though it felt like no time at all.

Genkai's eyes roved to the demon, still sitting on the grass. Amai turned to look as well and saw that he was sleeping. Amai rolled her eyes, grinning. She tip-toed over to him, extending her hand to poke his forehead and knock him over. She let out a squeak in shock as Jin grabbed her hand, faster than she could see. He pulled her a little closer, smiling just a little bit.

"Never poke a sleeping demon," he advised, then frowned playfully. "Didn't I already tell you that?"

To say that Amai's face was red would be a severe understatement. Simply 'red' could never do justice to the highly embarrassed, slightly shamed look on Amai's face, highlighted by her wide eyes and slightly agape mouth.

Jin released her wrist, back to grinning, and hopped up to his feet as Amai tried to catch her balance. Amai didn't speak, not trusting her voice as she looked anywhere except at Jin or Genkai. All her peace and serenity from meditating was gone, replaced with hectic anxiety and embarrassment. She could almost _feel_ Genkai rolling her eyes as she ahem'd and waited for Amai to look back up at her. From beneath her lashes, Amai did and prepared herself for some terrible training.

"You still haven't mastered your control for your shield. Your reflexes aren't great either." Genkai paused and Amai shrugged, a sheepish expression on her face. Genkai grunted. "So Jin is going to throw air at you. And if you don't get any better he's going to throw rocks at you."

Startled, Amai looked up. "Huh? Rocks!" Damn karma.

Jin started laughing but stopped quickly, instead just grinning widely. Amai began grumbling about the training when Genkai snarled at her to get ready. Amai jumped and turned quickly to Jin, a rather piteous look on her face.

"It's good trainin'," Jin said, floating a foot off the ground, his legs crossed like a pretzel. "An' if you do good enough, I won' have ta throw rocks at ya!"

"I will come _at_ you like the crazy mother trucker I am if you even _think_ about throwing rocks at me," Amai threatened, pointing at him angrily.

Genkai sighed. Amai heard the rustling of grass as Genkai moved away to observe and occasionally harshly critique Amai's skills. Jin took this as 'start training'; Amai took this as 'prepare to start training'. The ball of air hit her stomach and knocked her over before she could even think about it.

Coughing, she launched herself back up angrily but could not immediately see the aggravating ginger-demon.

She was about to grumble angrily to herself when she heard a slight _whish_ of air coming towards her- she jumped to the side. Amai saw the air glide past her, and looked in the direction it had come from. She could almost _feel_ Genkai's disapproval at not using her powers.

"Well, fine." Amai grumbled, closing her eyes to tune into her surroundings.

The next rush of air was coming from her right, and she put up her right hand, palm out towards the offending air. With the motion came an invisible shield that blocked the air. Amai's face flickered into a slight smile as she waited for the next one. It went on like this for a while until Jin stepped things up a bit, sending air at her from different directions, at the same time.

The first time this happened, Amai missed the one aimed at her head, which completely broke her concentration. She sneezed and grumbled, rubbing her head. If she continued to be hit in the head, by air-balls or soccer balls, she wouldn't have any brain cells left. She peered over at Genkai, who seemed to be dozing. Amai sighed as she sensed another attack and attempted to block it. This time, she missed the one aimed at her legs. She fell flat on her bottom with a shout of surprise. A short laugh warned her of Jin's position and she quickly stood up, ignoring her aching tail bone.

Jin threw three this time, but Amai was ready. Her hands outstretched in front of her, palms facing out, she dug in her heels and brought up her full shield, covering the entirety of her body. The only weak spot she had was where her feet were, though with more training she supposed she could completely enclose herself. The air bounced harmlessly off her invisible shield, and she found herself smiling just a little bit. Her head was pounding, but not painfully. She breathed slowly in and out of her mouth as she felt a couple more of the air balls ricochet off her force field.

She stopped suddenly as she felt her nose tingle. Shields dropped, Amai's hands flew to her face as one last ball of air came flying at her. She felt it harmlessly breeze through the flyaway strands of hair around her face as Jin touched down in front of her.

Hands covering her nose, Amai grumbled, "Go away Jin! If you laugh at me I'll… I'll –"

Jin rolled his eyes, but gently placed his hands on her wrists, pulling them away from her nose. His hands were a little cold, and rough as always, but Amai somehow didn't mind it. A huge pout on her face, she allowed Jin to pull her hands from her face. The bloody nose was a little worse than last time as it continued to dribble. She was about to sniff when she remembered what a bad idea that was.

"Don't you dare make fun of me." Amai threatened, her voice whispery with sheer embarrassment.

Jin didn't say anything, which was surprising enough. He just looked at her nose before motioning with his hand. Amai quirked an eyebrow and saw that this gesture was to bring her backpack over.

"You brought tissues, am I righ'?" Jin caught the backpack and unzipped it.

She nodded at the same time he found the tissues. Amai was almost stunned that he was being this helpful. She nearly forgot that her nose was still dripping blood. Grabbing a handful of them, Jin clamped onto Amai's nose, squeezing it a little.

"Ew, Jin, I can do it, ok?" Amai's face was, once again, bright pink as she reached up to try and take the tissues.

"It's just blood, Amai," he grinned at her.

"Yeah, blood from my _nose_. It's like… grosser." Amai was pouting again, mostly because her words sounded more like "Yeah, bod fom ma dose. It like, gosser".

Jin made a dismissing motion with his free hand as Genkai's footsteps neared. Amai hadn't even noticed that the old woman was making her way over to them.

"What's the matter now?" Genkai's sharp words revealed her agitation that the training had stopped, and her lack of concert for Amai's nose.

"Bah dose-" Amai started, but Jin was obviously trying not to laugh while she spoke. Frustrated, Amai growled, severely unthreateningly, "Okay, by don' _you_ dell her."

"What's to tell?" Jin smiled, directing his next comments to Genkai. "Her nose is bleedin', an' it's prolly 'cause her human body can' quite catch up to wha' her reiki is doin'."

Genkai looked at Amai who seemed rather pitiful at the moment. Amai and Genkai were both frowning at the assessment. Genkai harrumphed and Amai, who had gone back to fidgeting and trying to retrieve the tissues, quirked an eyebrow.

"More training." Genkai turned to go back to her place on the porch.

"Whaaaa?" Amai complained.

Jin was chuckling again, "Looks like you'll be runnin' up n' down them stairs o'er and o'er again,"

"Is that what she meant?" Amai squawked, horrified.

Removing the tissues from her nose and inspecting it quickly, Jin grinned at her. "Don' worry. I'll run 'em with ya."


	2. Dance

Hello! Welcome to another random installment of Amai and Jin general much and craziness. My keyboard is on Spanish and I don´t feel like changing it back right now, so I don´t know how to make a smiley… BUT I´M SMILING AT YOU RIGHT NOW OK. Dang, I can´t find my question marks… ok here´s the story, enjoy my mush attempts hahahaha

"Well, this was a failure."

Amai found herself sitting outside the hall on that slightly chilly night. Smoke from cigarettes and cold turned around her, the slight smell of nicotine sticking to her nose. She dared not itch it for fear of ruining the makeup her sister had worked so hard to put on her. Not that it mattered, anyway. She didn't plan on going back inside the dance, unless she absolutely had to. School dances were never as great as they seemed in the movies.

At least her dress was pretty cute. Her fingers splayed out against her thighs as she pouted, thinking back about the hour before she'd left for the dance, spinning in front the mirror. Her A-line, strapless turquoise dress spilled down to her knees like bright ink, her hair straightened with her bangs French braided behind her ear, and just the slightest hint of eye shadow… her sister had done so well for the night to be such a ruin.

She kicked her heels off and reached down to rub the small callus on her heel. Well, maybe it was a little hackneyed to be miserable at a party, but she couldn't help it. She was ready to go home. No sooner had she thought the words when a pair of headlights came up through the parking lot of the hall where the school dance was being held. The voice, however, came from behind her.

"Amai?"

She jumped nearly a foot in the air. With a sudden dreading, Amai turned her head toward her visitor. "Yeeeeeeess?"

"I thought that was you! What're you doin' out here, anyways?"

Amai's jaw nearly dropped. "What am _I_ doing out here? It's _my_ school dance! What the heck are _you_ doing here?"

Jin shrugged, hands in his jeans pockets. If possible, Amai's jaw dropped even more. He was in human clothes. She usually had to fight tooth and nail to make him put a _shirt_ on. Today he was wearing a sports t-shirt and jeans with a hole in the knee. She wondered momentarily on where he had found the clothing and guessed Yusuke. Amai abruptly shut her mouth, teeth clicking.

"Your lil' sister told me you were at some sort of…" Jin took his hands from his pockets and made circular motions, looking for a word. "…dance? A party of dancin'?"

Amai gave a half-hearted smile, "Yeah, a school dance. It sounded like fun, but…" insert frustrated sigh here.

"It wasn't?" Jin guessed, crossing his arms.

A short laugh from Amai was answer enough. She rubbed the back of her head and crossed her ankles in front of her. She was _going_ to play it cool, just say it was lame and whatever. Instead, she leaned her head into her hands and sighed deeply.

"It's awful." She admitted with a groan. "None of my friends could come except Keito and she's hanging out with her boyfriend and I brought a date but he's just awful too-"

It didn't occur to her to be a little embarrassed until the words were out of her mouth. But it's not like Jin and Amai were dating or anything, just… occasionally found themselves in romantic situations that made Amai's heart hurt and head spin but didn't seem to affect Jin at all. She frowned, her face pink, but she managed to look up at Jin.

"Awful all 'round, huh?" Jin quipped, wearing a half-smile she'd never seen before.

"Yeah, sorry. I guess it all must be pretty boring for you. Human, teenager problems, I mean." Amai went back to rubbing her heels.

Jin was quiet for a moment before coming to sit next to her on the bench. The music was loud, even outside the hall. Amai sniffed.

"I think it's interestin'." Jin said. "I think yer interestin'. An' it's not all borin'. Well, somma it is, but not all o' it."

"Glad my life is relatively interesting to you," Amai snorted.

Now sitting criss-cross on the bench, Jin smiled. "So you were tellin' me why things're awful an' such."

"I was?" Amai leaned back, pouting, debating. Well, here was her mouth motoring before her brain: "Well, you see, I came here with one of my teammate's brothers, but he's a total dick. All he wants to do is grind and slip alcohol into the punch and make out in the bathroom, and I kinda just wanted to dance like a normal person and have regular fun. Regular, boring, fun. And I didn't wear my shoes enough beforehand and now I got blisters." She laughed. "Was that interesting enough for you?"

She turned her head toward him and watched him quietly process the information. She knew half of it was a foreign language to him. However, he'd have to wait to figure it all out because here came her date for the evening. Amai groaned, her head falling once again into her hands. Exasperated did not even begin to cover it.

"Hey, babe, what're you doing out here?" Makoto Hayashi was handsome, though his voice exhumed arrogance. And wasn't that always the case? The handsomer they were and the more they knew it, the more arrogant/dickish they were. He'd exited the hall with an easy smile but the expression quickly fell when he saw the strange ginger sitting next to Amai. "Woah, you won't hook up with me, but you'll do it with some guy that doesn't even go here? What the hell-"

Amai would never know if the latter part of his sentence was directed at her or at Jin, because no sooner had the words left his mouth did Jin speed over to the Hayashi, assess him for a split second, then punched him in the gut.

Hayashi. Went. Flying.

Amai could not even find the words. Leaning over the back of the bench, she saw that Hayashi had crashed some feet away from where he'd originally been standing, and at first she worried he'd been knocked out until she heard him groaning rather piteously. Amai stared at his crumpled form as Jin trotted over to him. The wind demon shrugged before cheerily walking back to Amai.

Jin stopped when he reached the back of the bench, hands on his hips and making a disappointed face at Amai. "Cain't even take a punch! He's barely even a lad, for sure not a man!" Jin shook his head disapprovingly, "Not worth e'en a minute of yer time. C'mon, let's get you home,"

He hopped inhumanly over the back of the bench, took her hand, and started walking. He barely waited for her to grab her shoes and stand up. Her bare feet slapping against the concrete, she finally found something to say.

"Oh my gosh," her voice was a whisper, growing progressively louder as she said repeated the phrase. "Oh my GOSH. You just-" she gestured behind her. "And he just- and…"

Another moment of silence and she stopped walking and burst out laughing. Jin stopped and turned around, an eyebrow quirked. His ears were wiggling, just a bit. Amai tried to stop laughing, but as always it just made everything more hysterical.

"Yer laughin'! At first, I thought you were mad at me, you weren't sayin' a damn thing!" Jin's unabashed smile seemed brighter than usual.

"I was in shock," Amai found that although she could stop laughing, the grin just wouldn't leave her face. "I'm still in shock. Of all the things to do- you just up and punched him! Is that how you greet everyone? You drag 'em into the sky or your punch 'em?"

"It's a fair easy way of figurin' out a person, doncha think?" Jin tugged on her hand and they started walking again.

"All I did was scream," Amai commented, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "I think I hit you, too. I can't imagine I made a good first impression."

Jin was quiet a moment before answering. "You'd be surprised."

Not trusting her voice, Amai held her breath and waited for the right answer to come into her head. It wasn't working, and she was feeling a little dizzy. Normal Amai would play it off jokingly, but the suddenly bashful Amai wanted to ask what he meant.

"What're you doin'? Yer face is all red- why're you holdin' yer breath like that?" Jin had turned to look at her, quirking an eyebrow.

Amai gasped, found that was difficult while holding one's breath, subsequently choked, coughed, and was still fighting for breath when she hurriedly replied, "Nothing! I mean, no reason. Just. You know. Um."

"I can't tell if yer blushin' or if yer face is red from holdin' yer breath,"

"Mm…" Amai muttered under her breath, "Both."

"Thas' good I guess," Jin turned around to smile at her. "So long as yer not sad anymore."

"No. Not anymore, I'm not. I was more annoyed, 'cause my sister made me look all pretty and the night sorta sucked," she laughed half-heartedly.

Jin peeked over at her, turning his head just a little. His eyebrows were raised and rather than the usual spark of mischief in his eye, Amai saw sincerity.

"Well," he drawled, "Ya do look pretty."

Though he had turned to face forward again, pulling her along after him, she could see that he was grinning. Amai matched his smile, feeling her face flush with pride and a little embarrassment.

"I prefer stunning," she teased, stepping quickly to catch up with him.

"Alright, stunning then." He looked down at her, squeezing her hand.

"Gorgeous, even?"

Jin pouted a little, "How many times do I hafta say it?"

"Until I get tired of hearing it." Amai winked, squeezing his hand tight. "Which will be never."

"Well, I'm not gonna say it anymore then, you'll get all spoiled an' such and yer ego will just explode! Cain't be havin' that now, can we?" Jin used his free hand to mimic an explosion, adding some sound effects before giving her a wise look.

A wise look. From Jin. About her ego. She gave him a sly look, almost pouting.

"Fine, I'll just have to find someone else to tell me I'm beautiful all the time."

Jin thought about this for a moment. "Like your mother?"

Amai whacked his arm with her shoes.

"Och, aye! You don' hafta be hittin' me every time ah make a joke!" Jin winced before a mostly-serious look came across his face. Tonight was a night for firsts, Amai supposed. "It don't matter how much yer sister dresses ya up, ya always look pretty."

He squeezed her hand tightly as she searched for words. She was about to make a joke when he continued.

"If ya really need someone ta tell ya yer beautiful all the time, Ah'll do it. Ya don't hafta find anyone else ta tell ya."

He was quiet for some time after that. Amai found herself, for once in her life, unable to make light of the situation. It felt very real and honest, but it felt a little bit like a clichéd dream too. She found herself shyly looking away, completely in awe. Just ten minutes ago Hayashi had been saying she was hot or sexy or smokin' or something, and all she'd been was annoyed. When he said she had a nice ass, she'd rolled her eyes. Jin said she was beautiful and her heart was in her mouth.

"Ok," she whispered so softly he had to turn and look at her to make sure she really had spoken. "Um, thank you, I guess."

"What fer? Don' thank me fer tellin' the truth atcha." He grinned again before pointing ahead with his free hand, gesturing to Amai's home. "We made it! Now you can get off yer sorry sore feet and inta bed!"

Amai made a noise in protest. "I don't wanna go in yet, my sister is waiting up to hear all about my failed attempts at dancing and boys and such. She's probably waiting in the hallway right now, right in front of the door. Waiting." Amai shuddered.

Jin made a noise and turned to Amai, a slightly insulted look on his face, "Well, I can fix tha' at least!"

"Hm?" was all Amai could get out before Jin snagged her around the middle and jumped up into the air.

And just like that, they were at her window. Amai's hands were knotted in Jin's human shirt and her knees were curled up into her chest. Small wonder she hadn't lost her strappy heels, hanging loosely from her wrist. Jin was quietly laughing as he reached his free hand to open the window, which was always unlocked anyhow. Amai was now pouting and she attempted to keep her voice at both a normal pitch and normal volume.

"That wasn't fair! You scared the crap out of me! I told you to warn me if you ever had to do that!" Amai managed to unknot one hand from his shirt so that she could smack him.

"Owch," Jin grumbled, clearly not hurt. His movements were gentle as he carefully stepped onto the window sill and swung her into the room. "There! Righ' as rain!"

Amai quickly freed her remaining hand, flushed with embarrassment as she stumbled just a little. "Uh, sure. Right as rain. Thanks, Jin."

"Well, 'course it's no problem! Anyway, I was tellin' Yusuke we could be havin' an arm wrestlin' match 'fore I went back to Genkai's, so I'll hafta see ya later!" Jin put his hands on his hips with a grin and an ear wiggle.

Half a moment of hesitation and he leaned into the window, hovering for a millisecond above Amai, who tilted her head to look up at him, perhaps tease him, when she lost the ability to think and Jin quickly kissed her cheek.

He leapt back out the window with a gigantic grin on his face, waving on hand at her. He bid her goodbye in a teasing tone: "Later, gorgeous," and sped off on a breeze that shook the tree outside her window.

Amai sat hard on the ground, the shoes tumbling to the side and her hands falling into her lap. When her older sister burst through the door with unabashed nosiness, Amai was giggling and smiling too hard to stop.


	3. Handshake

**Hey you guys! Thanks so much for all the awesome reviews! I really love, treasure, and appreciate them! And thanks for your patience... I've got about 5 one-shots for this little series thing, but they're all half-written and half-inspired...so I literally whipped this one up in an hour. Very quick little one, as thanks for all your reviews. I hope you like it.**

**As you may gather, this takes place not long after our favorites, Amai and Jin, first meet. Very very quick, like I said x) Thanks again! I started college, so I've been drowning in work... it might take a while for the next one. Keep you all posted! Enjoy!**

**Special thanks to:** _kiralol101 , middlekertz , XxMichyBabyxX , AprylChaotic and Evalyd Yamazaki !_

* * *

"I _said_ that I _hate_ this!" Amai shouted before turning heel and stomping away, her inner three-year old currently at large.

She hated it because she didn't _get_ it. And what was to get? The walk to the temple had seemed so short, when her nerves had unceremoniously shoved her heart into her throat and time jumped by like a bunny in a thicket. Now that she was rushing to get away from the mad group of people behind her, the walk winded and ran for what seemed like miles. Each foot step took a solid minute, long enough that she heard Miko shouting after her.

Well, forget about Miko. She was crazy, too, if she was staying with these…weird people.

"Amai! Amai! Please, stay!"

Amai shook her head frantically, half in answer and half to shake the madness from her head. Demons. Spirit World. What the hell was going on? Amai knew something bigger was out there but didn't dare put a name on it. But to have someone come up to her and just say "Oh, yeah, there's a Spirit World and we work for it" … that was too much.

And _demons_. What was she supposed to do with _that_?

"Oi, lass!"

Amai gasped and spun around in a circle, trying to locate the voice. The demon touched down in front of her. In the few times she'd seen him, he'd always had this impish grin on his face. Even when he'd saved her life from that scary rib-crushing giant vine, he'd been laughing the whole time.

He wasn't smiling now.

"Did you just say 'oi' to me?" Amai was indignant despite it all. "And my name's not lass! But why am I talking to you!"

The demon had put his hands on his hips and had a rather childish pout on his lips. "On account of myself bein' a demon, is that it? Why you cain't be talkin' to me?"

Amai groaned, and stomped her foot. "Yes! That's why! Demon's don't exist! And besides, every book I ever read said demons are bad, ok?"

"So ya read a book- good fer you!" his sarcasm had Amai close to growling. "But you ain't never met a demon, huh? Well, here ya go! I don't think I'm all so bad, an' I bet somma the others would vouch for me too! 'Fact, I betcha you met a buncha other demons but you never knew it!"

Skeptical, Amai quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah? They all got big ears and horns like you? Pretty sure that's hard to miss."  
"Och, aye." The demon rolled his eyes. "'Course not. Does every human look the same?"

Begrudgingly Amai replied: "I guess not."

"Betcha humans all act different, too, huh?"

Narrowing her eyes, Amai replied with an immature: "I guess so."

He was not fazed by her childish behavior, grinning as he stuck out his hand. "Well then, I'm Jin! I'm a demon, and it sure is nice to meet you!"

Amai jumped back from his hand, eyeing it warily before tentatively sticking out her own hand. "Um. I'm Amai. I'm a human, and my head hurts. Can I go home yet?"

Jin pumped her hand excitedly as Miko trotted up behind them. Miko, a new and very shy friend, smiled softly at Amai. Amai, however, was busy having her arm shook up and down by the energetic demon.

"We can't leave yet," Miko murmured, tucking a tendril of her long hair behind her ear. "Um, they wanted to start training today."

Amai glanced down at her usual, casual ensemble. Too bad she was, as usual, dressed in her workout gear. She had no excuse.

Shoulders slumping, Amai groaned again. "I just got out of soccer practice, so this better be easy. And I still don't know how much I believe all this. So if I die, Miko, it's your fault."

The other girl squeaked, startled by the very thought. My, she was skittish. Jin had since stopped shaking Amai's hand and was instead swinging it around aimlessly.

"Do you mind?" she turned back to the demon.

"Not particularly," he grinned at her before taking off back towards the group, her hand still in his.

Before she knew it, she was dragging behind him, her feet barely sticking to the grass. In fact, she was definitely leaping more than running. It was sort of like jogging on the air. Amai didn't particularly hate it.


	4. Woods

**Oh, wow! You guys are all so amazing! Thanks so much for your patience- my past semester was very difficult. This upcoming semester will not be much better, haha. Hooraay collegeee. Special thanks to everyone reading and a quick mention of my reviewers (which is phenom guys, I love getting those little emails):**

**kiralol101 ; Evalyd Yamazaki ; AZURE DRAGON ; soul painter**

**You guys rock! I hope you guys enjoy - this was supposed to be like, a quick two page thing and it became a five paged odd adventure. I'm planning a particular fluff for the next chapter but hey, we'll see. Anyway, if you're bored, read my "Shenanigans" which is really just Jin being an actual ninja and Amai an actual villager (and she loses a shoe, the poor girl). **

**Anywho, who reads these things anyway?! Enjoy the show:**

Training in Genkai's woods was probably the worst part of all these demon shenanigans. She had come directly from soccer practice, which was brutal. Now, here she was, trekking through these dangerous woods. Amai felt murderous.

"What is the point of walking through these stupid woods," Amai grumbled to herself, kicking a rock.

The rock bounced against a tree, scaring some large bats from its branches. Screeching, Amai ducked and threw her hands over her head. When the last flutter of wings disappeared, Amai fell backwards into the grass with a great huff.

"I hate this stupid place! Bats! Bugs! What next?" Amai knew she shouldn't have asked that question, but the words just slipped out of her mouth.

At nearly the same moment, she heard a strange growl from behind her. A gasp frozen in her throat, Amai turned stiffly towards the noise, standing slowly. Choking on her own startled yelp, Amai made eye contact with the most hideous looking rhino in the world. Maybe it wasn't a rhino, but it sure looked like one. Maybe it was the nicest rhino in the world? Maybe it was tsundere?

"H-hello there, nice rhino thing…" Amai put her two hands out in front of her, as if her slender fingers could stop the giant beast.

It snorted indecisively, as if it were debating whether to gut her or let her go. That's what Amai was thinking, anyway. She hoped it would choose the latter- what were her options, otherwise? Amai peeked deftly at her surroundings: she was in a small clearing of sorts with exotic, knee-high plants growing around the roots of the unusual trees. Amai could swear the roots of these trees were alive, and the branches too. Often she tripped on what at first seemed to be flat ground- suddenly, a root would sprout and knock her down. Or, as she was running to safety, a branch would suddenly duck and smack her in the forehead. She was lacking in brain cells as it was, she didn't need the extra help from this mad forest.

The rhino creature was done with Amai. It snorted derisively and Amai let out a sigh of relief. She let her hands down, the sparkles in her newly done nails glinting in what little sunlight filtered through the tree tops.

In an instant, the staredown was back on, the rhino demon pawing at the ground with a peculiar rage. Amai swallowed hard, frozen. It just wasn't gonna leave her alone. Amai backed up worriedly, her hands stretched behind her. Her fingers touched the rough bark first and she broke eye contact to glance upwards at the tree impeding her retreat.

The rhino demon huffed, stamped its clawed foot, and ran at full speed towards her. Amai couldn't even curse. Her breath rushed from her lungs as she turned to the tree and jumped to catch hold of a low lying branch. Luckily, this tree didn't seem to hold a grudge against her and she easily wrapped her fingers around the branch. Now it was just a matter of holding herself up.

Swinging her legs up, Amai just barely held on as the rhino demon rammed the tree trunk. Her bones shook and her vision vibrated as the force made her body wobble and her fingers ache with the effort of holding on. Willing her muscles back into action, Amai looped her legs around the sturdy branch she held, hugging it to her chest as she pulled herself against it. This was a precarious situation.

"Thas' a fine mess yeh've got yerself inta, lass!"

That accent. That laughing voice. That brisk breeze that knocked some of her hair loose from her ponytail.

"Dammit," she muttered, opening one eye. "I wasn't looking for your opinion on my situation, thankyouverymuch!"

Jin was hanging upside down in mid air, a wry grin plastered on his ever-effervescent face. It rather made her want to smack him, at the time. Jin looked down at the rhino demon, which had backed up in order to ram the tree once more. He sent a gust of wind its way, causing it to make eye contact with the wind demon. It paused, snorted, and turned around in a huff. Amai gaped.

Grinning still, Jin peered back at Amai. "Ya, Ah'm pretty amazin'."

Amai narrowed her eyes at him, shutting her mouth with a snap. "It's not very impressive that you're full of hot air."

She let her legs fall and loosened her grip on the tree branch, ignoring the rough bark on her arms. She'd been climbing trees since she was a kid, if only to escape her annoying older brother who was much too vain to climb trees (what if his shirt got dirty? Or his flawless skin was scratched?). Her feet landed with a thud on the ground and she brushed the dirt from her hands.

Jin touched down in front of her. "So, what were ya gonna do if that demon didn't letcha alone and jus' kept tryina knock you outta the tree?"

Amai scoffed, "I would have climbed over to the next tree or something. I don't know!" She threw up her hands and growled. "I don't exactly fight, remember? My only techniques are hair-pulling, eye-gouging (but I also just got my nails done, so-), shin-kicking, and a straight-forward-but-very-weak punch. None of those woulda worked on a real demon! They barely work on people!"

Shaking his head, Jin looped his arm through hers and tugged her along after him. "Genkai sent ya in here to practice all tha things ya need help with- like watcha jus' listed an' all."

"It's not practice if I don't know any of it," Amai grumbled, allowing herself to be tugged; despite it all, she had relatively good survival instincts and hoped Jin would scare off most of the other demons. "I can't focus my watchamacallit that way, either. My, uh, rayon. No- radon. Roku?"

Jin snorted, making Amai snap her mouth shut and glare. "Uh, it's called reiki, lass."

"Right. Reiki. I said that." Jin laughed but Amai begrudgingly went on, needing to explain herself. "My, um, reiki doesn't do the gun-thing like Yusuke and I'm no swordsman like Kuwabara. I've tried to use it as a weapon but it just doesn't work."

Jin appeared thoughtful as she spoke, nodding occasionally. "Well, I never took ya fer a fightin' person, 'cept in yer personality… But maybe that's why Genkai put ya in here in tha first place?" Amai deadpanned, causing Jin to grin at her. "Ya know, see if ya can land on yer feet or such?"

Amai shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Land on my feet? I'm gonna lose a leg if she keeps throwing me into this damn forest! I mean, I'd had enough the second I stepped in there. I stepped on a bug that was THIS big!" she stretched her hands a foot apart to demonstrate.

Laughing, Jin mimicked her. "Tha' big, huh? Wow, lass! Yer the bravest human I ever did meet!"

She whacked him in the chest, pouting. "I'm not exactly used to trekking through the woods or whatever. I'm delicate."

Here, he simply snorted. Amai refrained from hitting him again, though she pushed him aside. He let her arm drop and grinned at her. Amai would be in a better mood about it all if he didn't tease her all the time.

"Ya, yer delicate awright. But ah think ah'll letcha fight the next demon on yer own. Or bears, bears are a right fun time, lass." Jin crossed his arms and continued walking alongside her.

Amai turned quickly, her face dropping. "Did you say bears?"

Jin erupted into laughter, holding his sides as Amai glared angrily and stomped off ahead. It was not nice to tease her like this- she'd had enough! Bears. Bah! She swung around towards him and stomped her foot.

"There aren't any _bears,_ Jin! And you're awfully mean, for someone who's laughing all the time!" Unfortunately, this just made Jin laugh more.

She stomped off once again, kicking aside whatever accursed vegetation dared impede her path. Amai growled angrily to herself, growing more frustrated by the minute. Jin still laughed. After stomping away for a while, Amai froze. She had reached a small sort of pond. It was surreal and rather ethereal, something she wouldn't have expected in Genkai's demon forest.

"Pretty," she murmured, walking around the pool, noting the bright flora and crystal clear water. It was weird that Genkai would have such a nice place in the middle of this devious forest.

Amai squatted at the water's edge, extending her hand toward it. It really was pretty. It was probably awesome to swim in. The sun reflected rainbows across the water's glassy surface. Maybe if she took a quick dip, she'd be sparkly and pretty too. Her fingers had barely touched the surface when something grabbed her wrist roughly and dragged her backwards.

Amai gasped as her wrist began to smart and her rear landed painfully on the damp shore. She looked up quickly, narrowing her eyes at the no-longer-smiling ginger demon. The no nonsense expression he shot at her was startling enough that Amai's mouth snapped shut. His hand remained tight around her wrist as he nodded his head towards the lake.

Expression severely close to pouting, Amai peered back over to the lake.

Two frog-like eyes had popped from the depths of the lake. They stared at Amai with an intense… Amai shivered as she realized the creature was staring at her with _hunger. _The sort of hunger that feels like a metal claw scraping the bottom of your stomach, or stops your heart at the sight of food.

_Oh my gosh_. It hit her like a ton of bricks, to overuse the metaphor. _It thinks I'm food._

Amai's heart hurt, it was beating so hard against her chest. All she knew was that she needed to get away. She was dizzy with the instinct to run. She barely felt Jin grab her other arm and tug her away, tripping over her own feet.

Moments later, Jin was shaking her. She snapped back into focus, once again surrounded by green trees and weird shrubbery. Amai looked back and forth, breathing as calmly as possible. Jin's hands were tight around her shoulders.

With her wits relatively about her, Amai narrowed her eyes at Jin. "I thought you said bears were the most dangerous part of this stupid place."

He smiled just a little, "Well, I meant it as a bit of a joke, ya see. Didn't think you'd be believin' me so fast."

Amai looked worriedly up at him, unable to bring her voice above a whisper. "What was that?"

Jin thought about his answer before responding. "Somethin' tha' shouldna be here,"

"Oh," Amai shivered. He squeezed her shoulders comfortingly before letting go. "Does that mean I can just go home?"

"Oh, fer sure." Jin waved a hand in front of him. "This is outta yer league. It's gon' take a real strong person ta take care of that thing."

Huffing, Amai rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, someday I can do that if only I kept practicing and doing my best."

Jin laughed, "Well, sure, maybe. But, best ta leave this to tha professionals fer now."

"Professional, huh?" Amai scoffed. "I'd like to see your license."

He winked at her, causing Amai's breath to stick in her throat. He grabbed her hand in a manner that was becoming rather habitual, and tugged her in a direction. Amai didn't know what direction, and didn't particularly care. She wasn't worried, because Jin was leading her.

"Let's see if we can find a bear before I take you outta here…" Jin was nearly skipping, peeking back at Amai to gauge her reaction.

Amai rolled her eyes. Maybe she'd never be a fighter, and she'd never be strong like Jin or Yusuke or Chuu or whoever. But maybe that just wasn't the plan for her. Maybe the plan for her was to protect as best she could. To protect and, in the case that Genkai kept sending her into the forest of demons and bears, to survive.

Well, with the friends she had, she'd most likely make it out alive.

"A bear. Okay, let's go find one." Amai squeezed his hand and grinned. "But just one. More than one bear, and I'm out."

"Deal," Jin laughed. "Doncha worry, lass. I gotcher back."


	5. First

**Well, hello there! Somebody said "More squishy toe curly mush next time!" so I wrote this very quickly over the course of a few hours, haha. Utter mush. Two pages of mush. Special thanks to everyone who keeps reading! I also will be updating my crossover...eventually. I have some of it written up in a notebook that I need to type up and such. Anyway, it's my sister's birthday and if she liked anime, I'd gift her smut. Instead, she got a breakfast club poster haha.**

**SO: Thanks to soul painter, my reviewer, and thanks to those who have favorited and follow my stories! Amillea Moravii, Fallen-Autumn-Leaves, GhostHoundFanGirl, LadyAmazon, Marli-chan Tuchanka, Plague's Vengeance, RizuZeto, Romance on Express, Kiralol101, Kmgd14, meifly, mrsbeggins, AprylChaotic, Evalyd Yamazaki, middlekertz, ninja enchantress, etc. :)**

**Thanks I really enjoy writing these and enjoy hearing from you guys! **

"_No_, you don't score a goal unless the soccer ball goes into your opponent's net!" Amai growled. It was her fourth time explaining the process of winning a soccer game to Jin.

"An' if ya kick the ball inta yer own net, the other team gets yer point…?"

Amai cheered, "Yes! That's exactly right! Now the next time you come to my game you won't cheer when someone scores in the wrong goal, or hurts their opponent."

Jin rolled his eyes, "This is why Ah like fightin'. Tha rules are watcha make 'em, an' there ain't so many of 'em."

They had been sitting on her bedroom floor all night, it seemed. Their topics of conversation had ranged greatly, finally ending on soccer (coincidentally, Amai's favorite subject). Her toes were cold, though she wore comfy socks beneath her too-long yoga pants. Her soccer hoodie had her name on the sleeve, and her hair fell down around her shoulders, still damp from her post-practice shower.

A knock on the door made Amai yelp. "Amai? Who are you talking to?"

It was her mother. As Amai struggled for words, she saw Jin open his mouth. _Oh no_, her brain thought. Her hands started working on their own and suddenly she tackled him, her hands clapping over his mouth.

"Uwaaahhh, nothing! Nothing, mom! I'm watching a movie!" Amai turned her head and shouted at the door. "I'll go to bed soon! Good night!"

She heard her mother grumble angrily outside her door. Finally: "Good night, Amai."

Amai let out a huge sigh of relief, turning back towards Jin. Her face turned horrifically red as she realized her precarious position. Above her hands, Jin's eyebrows were raised high. He was leaned back on both his elbows, Amai nearly falling on top of him. She sat back quickly on her heels, drawing her hands away from his mouth. The expression on her face was priceless, really. A mix of sheer embarrassment and terror.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," she whispered, covering half her face with her hands, peeking through her fingertips at Jin.

He sat back up, criss crossing his legs and still staring at her with his eyebrows raised. It was the longest he'd been quiet in her presence. Amai wanted to get back on subject with soccer- she could handle soccer. She couldn't handle the look he was giving her.

"Thas okay," he whispered with a small smile.

She leaned forward just a bit before her courage stopped short and she faltered. Amai bit her lip in thought- she'd known Jin for months, now. In fact, it had been half a year since he'd swooped in and changed her life around. Most of the time, she enjoyed what adventures came her way. At the very least, she enjoyed the company she had on those adventures. Amai looked down at his bare feet, the window behind him, the horn on his head- anything except his face. She might say something stupid, might do something stupid, like ki-

Amai squeaked as her mind railroaded in the direction she'd been trying to avoid. Okay, think un-kissy thoughts: rocks…cats…toes… bare toes curling… the well-known feeling of pressure against her lips, her cheek, her forehead… Well, that wasn't working. Amai buried her face in her hands and grumbled another apology.

Jin seemed confused. "I don' rightly know why yer apologizin' now,"

"Because I'm usually a lot better at this." Amai replied in dismay, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "I've been on, like, a hundred dates and I've kissed my fair share of boys, thank you very much. But they're really easy to understand and manipulate and I know exactly what to say and do to make them go out with me, or buy me a snack, or something."

Oh wow, here it all was. She really couldn't control her mouth when she was around Jin. Nope- stop thinking about mouths, because then you'll talk about kissing again.

Amai pointed accusingly at Jin. "You are too difficult to get! You're not like the boys I go to school with! I just don't know what I'm supposed to do or what this is and –"

Hackneyed. That's what it was to be interrupted with a kiss. But there it was, all the same. The pressure of his lips against hers, rough like the rest of him. She found herself leaning into it, her hands on his knees as she kissed back. A moment later, Amai stopped as she felt his smile.

She drew back, giving him the stink eye. "What's so funny?"

"Ya sure made a big deal outta not knowin' what to do," Jin gave her his signature grin. "Seems yer a right good kisser. Here I was thinkin' me face was clear as the sky on a sunny day! I didna know ya couldna see what I was thinkin'."

Amai pouted. "All you do is tease me. What am I supposed to think?"

Rolling her eyes, she sat back, her fingers dancing nervously across her knees. In that way, boys didn't differ much. They teased the girls they liked. It still left her wondering what this whole thing was. Obviously it wasn't the same as if she were dating a regular human boy. At least, it didn't feel the same.

"So…" Amai huffed, blowing her bangs askew. "What… what is this?"

Jin watched her pensively, leaning his chin into his hand. He shrugged casually. "Dunno. Jus' a kiss. But I wouldna mind another,"

That sly addition made Amai blush and smile. Alright. Just a kiss. She could deal with that. And if turned into something more than just a kiss, then they could cross that bridge when they came to it. And Amai had a feeling that they were in it for the long haul.

"Hmm," she replied. "You do seem out of practice. We can fix that."


	6. Puppies

**Hello! Welcome to another installment of Shenanigans. I am attempting to write an actual fic for Amai and Jin, but it is much more difficult than I thought haha. I wanna get right to the nitty gritty and skip the intro... which is probably why I'm more successful at writing these ficlets haha. Anyway! My fanfiction "Ninja Nonsense" was completed recently... but someone persuaded me to write some more so that's ongoing.**

**Special thanks to my reviewers CrazyCreator33 and kiralol101 ! I really do love reviews, they inspire me to write and write faster and write better, etc. So I really hate being a review whore but I'd super adore some reviews. A simple "keep going!" or "funny!" or "your hair looks nice today!" that's nice :) **

**Anyway, love you readers! I know there's a bunch of you all out there, and I think that's awesome. I've never had a popular fanfiction before, even a semi-popular one! You guys are cool and you know it. Lurv u ;) **

**Anyway, enjoy ;) **

* * *

Amai woke to the chattering of parents downstairs. This was relatively unusual as typically everyone was gone from the house by the time Amai woke up on the weekends. Today was Saturday…right? She sat up quickly, her hair flying into her face where she left it lying across her freckled face. She reached, rather zombie-like, for her ancient cell phone, not moving from her futon.

When her fingers wrapped around its chilled metal surface, she heard hurried little feet running from their rooms down the hall and down the creaky steps. Hm. That was interesting. She flipped her phone open to check the date (it was, indeed, Saturday) and left it on her covers, running her hand through her hair. It was surprisingly unknotted – then she remembered her sister had straightened it yesterday.

Rolling to her feet and scratching her belly, Amai stuffed her feet into her leopard print slippers, and slumped down the hall in her pajamas (scrunched up old soccer shorts and a bright red high school hoodie). Someone knocked their knuckles against the back of her head and she grumbled a greeting.

"Morning sis," Atsushi was already fully dressed, ready for another day of cop training. For all he was a pain in the ass, he was a decent older brother.

"I wonder what the commotion's about," her older sister, Yuriko, had emerged from her room and was leaning against the doorframe. Yuri nodded at Amai, "Your hair still looks good."

Amai couldn't keep the grin from her face. "Right? I think I might make you straighten it more often."

"Hey, more important things than hair going on here. Running kids? Suspicious cheer downstairs?" Atsushi ushered them along, making the two girls roll their eyes.

They creaked their way down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. Their mother was red in the face and their father had his usual grin stretched across his face. Amai was instantly suspicious – he only wore that quirky smile when he had done something their mother would not have approved of… but he had done it anyway.

"Morning mom," Atsushi swooped in on his angry mother and kissed her on the cheek. "What'd dad do this time?"

Their mother merely uncrossed her arms and gestured to the living room with an angry huff. Amai peered around her parents and into the living room, but only saw Ichigo and Maika hovering over something. Weird. Amai ducked past her siblings and into the living room, her hair falling smoothly across her shoulders.

"Oh," Amai let the word escape her mouth. No wonder her mother was angry.

"Amai, Amai lookit!" Ichigo turned around to grab his older sister's hand and pull her to the carpet so she was face to face with a tiny little puppy.

It was licking her face before she had time to process. Then it barked at her and went back to Maika and Ichigo, who were struggling to keep the squirming puppy in their grasps. His fur was a sort of russet and cut quite short. His ears were floppy, as was his too-pink tongue.

"A puppy. You got us a dog?" Amai was rather dumbfounded.

Atsushi cheered and picked up his still-angry mother, swinging her around once before setting her back down on the tiles. Their father was still grinning and their mother was now a little pink in the face, though it seemed she was hiding a smile.

The dog licked Amai's nose, decided he rather liked the taste, and began licking her cheek as well.

"Gross," she pushed the wet snout away from her face and wiped her cheek dry. Still, she couldn't help smiling – she'd always wanted a dog.

"What will his name be?" Yuriko knelt in front of the russet dog and gently scratched behind his ear.

"Jin!" Maika chirped.

Ichigo cheered, "Yeah! Jin!"

Amai looked at her siblings incredulously, "You can't name him Jin! Why'd you wanna name him Jin?"

"Same color," Ichigo explained, petting the dog.

"Yeah, same color." Maika agreed wisely.

"Who's Jin? And why's he red?" Atsushi came over to play with their new pet also.

It was only chance that Maika and Ichigo had seen Jin, as the two little kids had a habit of not knocking before they came into her room. She and Jin had been having a perfectly pleasant conversation about something when they'd barged in. Now they barged in all the time in hopes of seeing the childish ginger demon. They got along quite well, causing Amai to roll her eyes and wonder why she bothered putting on lipgloss when she heard the tell-tale knock at her window pane. Many times he was only there to see her little siblings. From what she could gather, it seemed that children were a treasure to demons, as their world was harsh and often unsafe for raising kids. Amai wondered what that would be like- similar to raising your child in a warzone, she presumed. It sounded sad, to her.

Amai rolled her eyes and grumbled to her younger siblings. "This dog isn't red like Jin – if he was, he'd look like Clifford the Big Red Dog."

"Jin is Amai's friend," Ichigo told Atsushi. "He's got red hair, just like this Jin."

"You want to name the dog after Amai's friend?" Their mother leaned in the doorway. "That's a bit…"

"Weird. It's weird. Don't name him that." Amai narrowed her eyes at their younger siblings.

The two innocently returned her gaze before turning their attention back to their new pet. Amai wanted to pull her hair with frustration- those two weren't going to let it go and since they were the youngest, they often got their way.

"Who's this Jin guy? Why haven't I ever met him?" Atsushi grumbled at Amai, who once again rolled her eyes.

"I don't want you guys to freak him out- and if you name the dog Jin _you'll freak him out_." Amai finished with her infamous 'that's that' tone of voice.

She did not mention the fact that she didn't want Jin to freak _them _out either. After all, he had a difficult-to-hide horn on his head and talked in such a peculiar accent… she just wasn't sure how to explain all of it. Maika and Ichigo took it in stride, as children are want to do. Who cared about the funny way he spoke? He was fun to play with. As if reading her mind, Ichigo pointed to the top of his head and mouthed 'horn' at his sister. Amai glared at the sheepishly smiling seven year old.

"Jin! Jin!" Maika stared deep into the dog's eyes.

The dog barked – a rather deep, laughing bark that made Maika grin.

"I think he likes his name." Ichigo laughed.

Amai huffed and crossed her arms. "What about Ringo? Or what's that book you're reading, Ichigo – Harry Potter? Name him Harry."

Even the dog gave her a look. Ichigo hugged his arms around the dog's neck and gave his sister the big ol' teary eyes.

"It's perfect," Maika turned her own watery eyes on Amai – and 5 year olds are quite good at that.

In a last ditch effort, Amai turned to her parents. But they simply shrugged. Amai was the only one putting up a fight- majority ruled.

"I am not consenting to the name. But… I also don't have another name to offer-"

"Yay! Jin! Jin! Jin!" Maika and Ichigo cheered.

"Jin it is," Yuriko nodded her head and continued petting the dog behind his ears.

Atsushi also seemed pleased. "Come on, kiddos! Let's play with him in the backyard!"

Maika and Ichigo cheered again, jumping up and telling their newly named pet to chase them. Jin gladly pursued the two out the back door and into their closed-in backyard. Yuriko and Amai stood to follow.

"Maybe if we had all met your friend, it would be stranger to name the dog Jin. Although I suppose it's a relatively uncommon name." Yuriko mused

Amai shrugged. "Maybe later."

They went out back and watched Atsushi, Maika, and Ichigo play fetch with their puppy. Yuriko joined in, her usual soft smile dancing across her face. Amai looked up. The tree that grew in their backyard had branches spreading in every direction. One particularly sturdy branch grew near her window, making it the perfect place for a lurking demon to harass a once-normal human. Speaking of – it seemed that Jin was sitting up in the tree, watching Amai's siblings play with their dog. He looked down at Amai and grinned at her. She rolled her eyes, kicked off her slippers and headed barefoot over to the tree. Amai easily maneuvered the branches until she was sitting on the same branch as he was – she'd been climbing that same tree since she was little.

"Hey," Amai smiled a little.

Jin looked her up and down, a confused expression on his face. "Well, yer hair sure looks nice but didja jus' roll outta bed or somethin'?"

Amai huffed. "Yes, thank you very much. It's only… (here she checked her cell phone) like, eleven. It's a Saturday, anyway, okay?"

He laughed and returned his attention to the other Nagori family members running around the backyard. "So, ya got yerselves a dog, huh?"

"Yep."

"Didja name 'im?"

"Yuuup."

"Jin! Jin! Over here Jin! Okay, fetch!" Maika's shouted made the demon Jin jump a little.

Amai let her head fall into her hands. Jin started laughing so hard he floated a few inches above the tree branch. Amai groaned.

"Ya named 'im Jin?" Jin managed through his laughter.

Amai glared at him. "_No_, Maika and Ichigo named him Jin and no one disagreed except me."

"Well, Ah like it!" Jin declared.

"Of course you do you self-centered egomaniac." Amai waved her hand at him dismissively.

It seemed Jin had finished laughing. He leaned forward with a small smile still on his face, still floating a little. Jin extended his hand towards her face, making her freeze, eyes wide. Jin pulled his fingers through her silky, straight hair.

"Sure is pretty, all straight an' such," he whispered, tugging on a strand and making Amai pout. "But, Ah like it how ya normally do it, too."

Amai blushed, her fingers tracing patterns in the bark on the tree branch. She looked down at her fingertips and murmured, "Thanks."

"Yer welcome," he ducked his head and kissed her quick on her nose. "Anyway, Ah jus' wanted to say hullo an' remind ya that me mates will be joinin' us fer trainin' tomorrow."

Amai was too embarrassed to complain – she hated training and it was worse with an audience. It also meant obstacle courses, and that Yusuke and Kuwabara would probably be there. Great. She hated training with a bunch of meatheads when she could barely break a board. She'd already dislocated a pinky trying to karate chop a wooden board with Genkai.

"Amai?"

"Huh! O-oh, okay! I guess." She made a face but managed not to complain.

Jin ruffled her hair and stood up, "Yer gonna love it. Anyway, see ya tomorrow!"

"Uh huh," Amai nodded and watched him shoot straight up into the sky, like a shooting star.

Well, with shooting stars you were supposed make a wish right? Although she knew it was futile, she wished training would be canceled tomorrow. Amai climbed back down the tree's branches and landed with a small thud on the soft grass growing beneath the tree.

Jin the dog rushed up to her and ran around her legs crazily. Maiko and Ichigo ran over, a knowing look on their faces. Rather than answer any of their questions she ran up to the two of them and picked them up like footballs, one in each arm. The squealed in delight as Jin the dog licked their faces and their toes, all the while continuing his circuit around Amai's feet.

Well, she wouldn't worry about training for now. She had a new dog to take care of, after all. Besides, it was important to remember for whom she trained. The two kids tucked under her arms, her two older siblings coming towards her, and her parents standing in the doorway leading outside. It was tough but she would do her best to protect them.

Ichigo whispered up to Amai, "We saw Jin!"

"Yeah, we saw Jin!" Maika said.

"He _kissed _you!" Ichigo added, sticking out his tongue.

Maika made a face also, "_Gross_."

Amai laughed, "Shut up you little bugs!"

But she couldn't help grinning at the fact that he really had kissed her. Sure, he'd done it before, but she rather liked having it happen consistently.

"And guess what, bugs?" Amai shook the kids, making their reply sound more like 'wha-ah-ah-ah-aaaht'. "We're gonna kiss again, and there's nothin' you little bugs can do about it."

Maika and Ichigo made grossed-out noises, but Amai rather felt like cheering. Ah, puppy love.

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_Thanks for reading! Please do review ;) 3_


	7. Gin (Part 1)

**Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for all your patience and reviews. It has been a rough couple of months in this household, losing a family member and working very hard at Student Teaching, etc. Anyway, sorry it has taken so long to write! I promise to try and update again soon, it's just tough to get all that work done and all my work done hahaha. Wah. WAH I SAY. Anyway, I will direct you to my tumblr ( evereverafterly . tumblr . com ) and give a shout-out to MELON-GO, LITE-BRITES, and THESHIRTLESSGIBBY at tumblr . com and thank them for reading my little old fic :) **

**kiralol101 - He really is just like a puppy! That's why Amai will someday begrudgingly admit that it's the perfect name for their pet haha. And thank you, I try to keep him in character as best as possible though sometimes it's tough because he doesn't have a toooon of screen time. A lot of his character is currently being built through insane discussions with theshirtlessgibby, haha.**

**CrazyCreator33 - Ahhh I dyed my hair a funny color so it looks weird now ;( hahaha but thank you! Good to know people read what I write bahahaa. ALSO YOU'RE THE REASON FOR THIS FIC. In part. I have been wanting write Amai as the typical teenager who goes to parties and hangs with that type of crowd. Obviously not every high schooler has that experience (I sure as heck didn't) so I'm basing it off my sister's ... crazier experience. :) So this ones for you :D Aahaha**

**middlekertz - AWW SHUCKS. 3 UR CUTE.**

**This is a reminder that I love reviews and meeting new folks! I know a lot of people have been reading this, so it would be amazing to hear back from you! **

**PS: This is part 1 of 2, I thought I'd give you something to read while I finish part 2. ps i luv u**

_HERE WE GO! _

* * *

"I can't believe you didn't want to come out, Amai!"

Amai tilted her head back and gazed at her best friend, a dizzy grin splitting her face. Amai laughed too loudly. "I knooow, right? But I don' hafta work tomorrow so I thought, why not!"

Her arms waved rather wildly as she talked, peering through her heavily mascara'd eyelashes. The contents of her solo cup spilled over her freshly manicured hands. She laughed, licking the liquid from her fingers as she juggled the plastic cup.

"Hey," Keito bent over haphazardly, leaning over Amai. "Hey. Hey Amai. I fuckin' love you, man. You know that, right? Like, wow. You're like my best friend, but also like my sister or a unicorn."

Amai teared up. "That is the nicest thing anyone's ever said ever."

Keito nodded sagely before swaggering dangerously. A pair of strong arms wrapped around the slight soccer coach's waist. Her boyfriend lifted her up off her feet, growling and laughing. Amai pouted at how darn cute they were.

"Uh oh," Keito intoned, resting her hands on her boyfriend's arms. "Amai looks jealous. Let's go somewhere private."

She was teasing but Amai still flushed pink with embarrassment, "I'm not jealous! Shut up! I'm gonna go get some fresh air."

"Don't let the cops getcha!" Keito warned, waggling a finger as she was carried off by her boyfriend.

Amai rolled her eyes with some difficulty and stood up from her place in the living room of her team mate's home. She'd been sitting on the edge of the fireplace (unlit, mind you) so she brushed the dust from the bottom of her high-waisted jean shorts and began the dangerous walk to the back porch. It was only dangerous because she was yet unused to her wedges and had had quite a bit to drink.

Despite her worries about rolling through the kitchen, where the majority of partygoers surrounded the dining room table whipping ping pong balls at each other, Amai managed to get through the crowd, only being stopped once to accept a congratulatory shot (she wasn't sure who she was congratulating but a shot was a shot).

Before opening the sliding glass door, Amai grabbed her cotton black cardigan from the coat rack by the door. Shrugging it over her shoulders, the end of it hit the ends of her shorts and made the weather more bearable for her flouncy, flowery tank top. One of her pockets was heavier than she remembered and she clumsily stuck her hand in there, fingers recognizing the unknown object as a box of cigarettes. Someone must have mistaken her cardigan for their own and left them in there.

Juggling the carton of cancer sticks, she neatly tumbled out the back door, grabbing tight to the guard railing along the porch before she twisted an ankle. Settling herself, she looked back to see if anyone had seen her graceful trip. They were all invested in a game of beer pong and therefore had not seen her embarrassing moment. Breathing a sigh of relief, she shut the sliding glass door.

Normally the porch would be full of people smoking what-have-you, but it seemed they were all inside for now. Probably distracted by the rowdy drinking games. Still, she could do with people not staring at her as she tried to sober up some. She tentatively walked down the stairs to the backyard, using both hands to grasp the railing and keep herself balanced. She wanted to kick off her heels by the end of the short steps.

Amai blinked slowly, looking around the backyard in search of a lawn chair or something. She tapped the cigarette box against her head and finally sat down where she was (read: fell backwards dramatically with a loud thud onto the grass). Stretching out her legs in front of her, she breathed in deep the chilled air and toyed with the box.

She was jealous of Keito, who could bring her boyfriend to parties and make out with him in other people's bedrooms. Meanwhile, she and Jin were still in secrecy.

"Jiiiin," she sang (read: croaked), leaning her head back and closing her eyes. Her mouth stretched into a wry grin. "Jin Jin Jin Jin, where'd ya go to, Jin. If Jin was here, we'd be kissin' and Keito'd be like 'Who that boooyyy' and I'd say Jiiin~"

"Watcha doin' sittin' all by yer lonesome, callin' mah name?"

Amai answered casually, her eyes still closed.

"Well," she drawled amiably, "If you weren't an imaginary boyfriend I wouldn't have to be sitting all by my lonesome calling your name."

"Hmm. That's mighty odd of ya, lass. An' last I checked, Ah'm not so imaginary."

Amai's eyes snapped open. She tilted her head at the floating ginger demon before her. His eyebrows were quirked in curiosity as he hovered a few feet off the ground, legs cross and about as chill as can be. He was within striking distance, not that Amai had the coordination or desire to hit him at the moment.

"Are ye drunk, lass?" now Jin seemed to be suppressing laughter as he inspected her closely, floating a few inches towards her and leaning in. Chuckling, he answered his own question, "Aye, ye are. No wonder yer sittin' out in the grass. Doncha know ye shouldna wander aroun' when yer three sheets to the wind?"

Amai stared at him, trying her best to focus on one of the two Jin's wobbling in front of her. She blinked stupidly. "Wassat mean? Three shits in the wind?"

Jin laughed, "Means yer right drunk, lass."

"I prefer smashed. Or hammered. Or snookered." She laughed at the last one, the pitch just a bit off. "Snookered."

Jin laughed with her. "Snookered, then." He agreed, looking up at the glowing windows above them. "Is it a human thing then ta go to a party an' get, ah, snookered?"

Jin saying the word 'snookered' made Amai laugh so hard she fell over onto her side. Then she laughed a little more, clutching her stomach. Looking up at him from the grass she made a face.

"Don't say snookered any more, it sounds really silly." She told him, wagging one of her fingers at him warningly.

She let her arm fall back down onto the ground before rolling onto her back and looking at the windows. She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I don't like to do it very often, but drinking's fun."

Amai turned her head to look at him and held a finger to her lips, looking worried. "But don't tell anyone 'cause it's also illegal so shhh!"

Jin set to laughing again before reaching down to help Amai stand up. It was a tedious task that required him to land on the ground to steady her. Amai's hands grasped at his arms, bare despite the slight chill. Closing her eyes for a moment as she attempted to focus, Amai (with much effort) then blinked them open and stared at Jin. There was a long silence as she fought for words.

"Jin do you like me?" her head lolled to one side and she pursed her lips as if considering a particularly difficult math problem.

Jin rolled his eyes before smiling down at her. "Aye, lass. I do."

"Okay, thas' a good start." Amai nodded to herself. "But do ya like me more than just kissin' me?"

He thought for a moment, his brows arched high in surprise. Amai had never mentioned being anything more than make-out buddies, though he'd wondered if she'd ever talk to him about, well about the kind of relationship Keiko and Yusuke had. Jin liked being free, liked being not tied down by anything, but envied Yusuke something awful. It must be nice to have someone to return to and worry over you and ask about your day and whatever else Keiko did that made Yusuke so eager to return to her.

"Yoooou been quiet forareallylongtime." Amai poked his nose (or the general direction of his nose), too drunk to be worried about his silence. "For someone who never shuts up, ya sure don't have anything' to say now huh, Jin-chan?"

Jin decided to tease her, laughing lightly. "Oh, I've lots ta say, lass. Jus' not sure you'll be rememberin' it tomorrow,"

Amai nodded sagely. The cool air was helping her sort through her thoughts with more ease, although her mouth was still working miles ahead of her brain.

"Ya, okay, but what's that even supposed to mean, huh?" Amai grumbled.

"It means," Jin patted Amai's coat pockets for her keys. "I'm takin' ya home, luv."

* * *

**Stick around for part 2! :) See you all soon! **


	8. Gin (Part 2)

**Oh, I do feel a wee bit mean for leaving it the way I did... but only a wee bit. Thank you so much for all your condolences and comments. We are still reeling from the loss of my grandfather, regardless of the months that have passed. You're all in my prayers :)**

**Shout out to my homies, yo! How can you get a shout-out? COMMENT! **

**CrazyCreator33 - I'm sorry to hear that you've had a similar loss :( I've spoken extensively about drunken YYH characters with TheShirtlessGibby on tumblr, and I was terribly inspired to write drunk Amai. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll be able to get some more drunk YYH characters in there shortly. :D Thanks for the review!**

**kiralol101 - Such good advice! I hope everything does fall into place! Fingers crossed :) I think a lot of YYH oc's lose sight of their human lives once they're wrapped up in their spirit detective/ suddenly a demon or vampire whatever lives. I really wanted Amai to not be interested in spirit detectiving because her main goal was to graduate high school, be MVP on her team, and play in the Olympics. Meanwhile, she is a regular teenage human with regular teenage human problems (not that I had these problems, to be honest I'm basing her a lot on my sister haha). Ugh, I love writing Amai and Jin so much haha. And the cigarettes were just another opportunity for him to tease her, and litter, as you'll see in this chapter. They are totally useless. Someday I'll learn to cut out silly tid bits like that haha (I wonder if someone I know was quitting smoking or something when I wrote that part haha) Thanks again for the review! **

**I'm Not Psychotic. I'm Gifted. - Hello! Welcome to the shenanigans fest ;D There is more cuteness I promise. I feel very cruel for ending the chapter there but I couldn't find another place to cut it off... and I'm just a terrible person, irl. And oh, I am quite embarrassed by your compliment! AND AM FLATTERED BY THE OFFERING OF A ZOIDBERG BLESS YOU. Thanks for the review, dear! :D **

**Special thanks also to theshirtlessgibby ( tumblr)! She's been messaging me all the time and we flesh out silly things for Amai and co :D **

**Thanks to my new followers/favorite peoples/things - welcome, kalsypher! welcome Ruriko-Yurinia! and thanks as always to my other peeps! Thank you , uniquely jaded , for adding my story to your favorites! And holy cow I just noticed I'm in a community! COOL. :D **

_Just so you all know, I am currently writing up chapters for the upcoming, full fanfiction involving Amai Nagori and her usual company :) It will be entitled Full Circle and I hope you will all read and enjoy that as well, once I put it up (another week or so, once I've finished the chapter I'm working on. I like having a chapter in reserve, in case I fall behind writing it... after all I graduate in less than a month holycowareyouseriousimgraduatingcollegesendhelp)._

_THANKS AGAIN! PLEASE ENJOY PART 2 OF GIN. Please rate and review or what have you, I appreciate every comment (especially the ones about my hair... you know who you are...) and love hearing from you all :) After all, we in the YYH fandom are just one big family, no? Au revoir, merci, arigatou, gracias, obrigada, ciao for now :)_

* * *

"It means," Jin patted Amai's coat pockets for her keys. "I'm takin' ya home, luv."

"Whaaat," Amai pouted. "Boo. Booooo. Keito said she'd play Flip Cup with me when she was done making out with her stupid boyfriend."

Jin shook his head, pulled the carton of cigarettes from her pocket, knocked her on the forehead with them (causing her to go momentarily cross eyed and disoriented) and tossed them haphazardly behind him.

"Hope yer not pickin' up another bad habit," he chastised before pulling her cellphone from her other pocket.

"Boo," Amai continued, trying to snatch her cellphone back from him. "Thas' littering Jin you can't litter I'll arrest you if you litter because it means you're (she gasped) a _litterer_."

Jin ignored her and hit a few buttons on her phone. He wasn't very good at it, but had memorized a few of the essential buttons to hit. Amai's ears perked up and her mouth dropped into a surprised little circle as her phone connected and an irritated voice snarled a greeting.

"Tell yer friend tha' I'm takin' ya home." Jin whispered, shoving the phone towards Amai.

Still gaping a moment, Amai juggled the phone in her hands and said too-loudly, "Keito? Oh. Yeah, Keito. Jin's gon' take me home, okey-dokey with you?"

"Who the hell is Jin?" Keito's voice was scratchy through the phone, but the worry was clear. "Did you just meet him? Don't just go home with someone you dumbass!"

Amai pouted, "I'm not that stupid, Keito. I know 'im, ok?"

"Are you still outside? Stay where you are!" Keito shouted and the line went dead.

Jin seemed as confused as Amai as she put the phone back in her pocket and shrugged. Moments later, she heard stomping and the loud opening of the porch door. Keito shouted for Amai in a rather threatening manner that made Amai jump.

"Amai! Where the hell are you, stupid!" she spotted her victim and, barefoot, plopped down the porch steps. Her hair was askew, as was her cute top. "You can't just go home with strangers! We may be drunk but we ain't dumb!"

Still pouting, Amai's shoulders went up to her ears and she countered, "I known him a long time now, okay Keito? This is Jin. Doncha remember? I talk about him sometimes, ok?"

Keito seemed surprised, as did Jin.

"Ya talk about me, eh?" Jin put his hands on his hips. "All good things, I'm sure,"

"Not always," Keito muttered, studying the ginger demon quite carefully. "Wow, he really does walk around without a shirt most times, huh?"

"Sometimes," he replied with a quirked eyebrow.

Keito nodded appreciatively, "Good. Okay, you go take Amai home. I'm gonna go back to my own boy. Good girl Amai, bye bye."

"That was easy," Amai muttered, staring at her friend. Keito simply rolled her eyes. "No, seriously, I thought you were gonna kill me."

"Amai," Keito pointed at Jin's chest. "Those are some trustworthy abs. I don't even care that he's got weird hair. _Look at his abs_."

"Ok, I will," Amai simply replied. "Bye Keito. See you at school."

Keito waved her hand haphazardly, murmuring something about going to the gym and her boyfriend coming with her. She stumbled on the top step, obviously a little drunker than she'd appeared. Amai turned to Jin, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Let's get ya home, Amai." Jin looped his arm in hers and began walking, Amai tripping once before walking rather steadily by his side.

"Ok," Amai nodded, latching onto his arm with a grin. "Let's go home and make out!"

Jin shook his head, laughing. "Not tonight, Ah think. Ye should have some water and sleep this off, lass."

"Boo," Amai pouted again, leaning her face on his arm and hanging her full weight on it (not that is even phased him, darn that demon). "Boooo! Come on, let's go home and (she gasped and managed to say the words through her laughter) have _sex_!"

If he'd been drinking something he would have had to do a spit take. As it was, he gasped some and looked down at Amai in shock. It wasn't that she couldn't say the words without laughing, but that she even _suggested_ it. Not that he didn't want to or anything- he was a healthy demon man after all- but she wouldn't even remember it in the morning. She probably didn't even mean it, though they say drunk words are sober thoughts. Best not to get his hopes up.

"Yer not allowed another drink til yer of age, lass!"

Amai continued booing him as he dragged her through a path in the woods. It wouldn't do for other humans to see her in such a state, especially if she was being honest about the illegality of it all. However after a few moments and jostled booing and grunts of frustration, he realized that Amai was having a lot of trouble avoiding objects one usually found on the ground.

"Ah, Amai." He sighed, causing her to look up at him and blush at the two-handed death grip she had on his arm. "Ah'm thinkin' this isn't the best way to getcha home. C'mon,"

She was scooped quite quickly into his arms, causing her to yelp and let go of his arm in favor of his hair and shoulder.

"Nooo!" she whispered, as if afraid someone would hear her. "Gravity an' I are fighting! I can't fly right now!"

It was nearly a whimper. Jin looked at her worried and dizzy face and smiled sympathetically.

"Ah know that feelin'," he nodded. "Ah won' fly, Ah promise."

Amai stared at him a moment before relaxing and folding her arms across her chest. "Just don't drop me, please."

She managed to be polite while drunk, at least. Still, she seemed to be pouting until he noticed her breathing slow and her head thunk onto his shoulder unceremoniously. Peeking down at her, Jin saw that she was dozing quite peacefully.

Getting her home was a breeze once she stopped booing and fell asleep. Jin had much time to think as he ran through the woods, barely jostling Amai as he bounded through tree branches with his usually ninja-like swiftness. After a few minutes, Jin found himself in Amai's moonlit backyard. The tall tree by her window was a perfect perch as he leapt and then silently nudged open the window panes. There was the usual squeak as he landed lightly on the platform, though Amai didn't seem to hear it. Shaking his head, he floated over to Amai's futon, messy and unmade as usual.

"Amai," he whispered, his nose nudging her cheek as he leaned over her ear. "Ya gotta help me out, lass."

Amai responded by flailing one hand up and snuggling closer into Jin's chest. It was moments like these that Jin was reminded of their many differences. Despite her human age, she still was so childlike. Though usually this meant she was stubborn beyond belief and highly argumentative, he found this shining example highly endearing. Still, he sighed before floating over her bed and gently untangling her. Despite his attempts and being tender, Amai tumbled onto her futon with a rather contented grumble. After a moment she rolled a little and peeked up at him.

"Go ta' sleep, Amai." He whispered, swallowing a laugh as she glared at him. "Ah mean it, lass. Ye'll be havin' a hell of a headache in tha mornin',"

She grumbled something but it was so unintelligible that he made a rather confused face. Amai, red faced, muttered the words once more.

"If I go to sleep you'll leave," having uttered the words, she found she was quite embarrassed and pulled her pillow over her face with a loud groan. "Ne'rmind jus' lemme wallow I'll be back to normal tomorrow…"

Eyes covered by the pillow, Amai didn't see what Jin was doing. But she did hear him softly land beside her bed. The pillow was gently lifted from her face, which was a dazzling shade of pink from the alcohol and embarrassment. For a long moment, all Amai could do was blink up at him. With all this embarrassment, her mind was clearing quite rapidly. Funny how, when you wish you could blame your actions on the substance… that was usually when your brain decided to start working again. Still, she heard the words slip out before she could stop them.

"Will you stay?" she whispered, her request barely a whisper.

His voice was as quiet as hers, as if they were sharing a secret. "Sure, lass. Ah'll stay."

Amai's smile was surprisingly warm as she grabbed her pillow back from him and kicked her heels off haphazardly. Then she curled up on her futon, closed her eyes, and grabbed Jin's hand. She murmured something suspicious as she snuggled into her bed. Jin wasn't sure if he heard her right as he reached with his free hand to pull the blanket up to her shoulders. He leaned his free elbow on his knee and watched as Amai sunk into sleep.

"Me too, Amai." He squeezed her hand tight. "Me, too."

* * *

_Thanks again for reading! If you want the rules to "Flip Cup" or "Get the Fuck Out" I'll let you know... I like drinking games sorry/not sorry :D I'M 21 OK, AND I KNOW AMAI ISN'T BUT SHE WILL BE SOMEDAY. Probably._

_Anyway, again, I thank you :-) Have an amazing weekend/weekday/life/evening/morning/what the heck have you :) _

_For in-between updates and other random nonsense, check out my blog evereverafterly on tumblr! _


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